When I revisited my first teacher , he welcomed me warmly , ready to offer counsel . Now I could grasp the sense of his strange underpainting method : complementary colors , e . g . green under red . Allowing the green and the toned ground to show through gave an inner depth and visual vibrancy . This idea lay behind my fascination with transparent glazes over a bright underpainting , yielding an inner glow similar to that of stainedglass windows . Troy ’ s recommendation of Taube ’ s Copal Painting Medium and Copal Concentrate would prove central to forging my own approach .
Frederic Taubes ( 1900-1981 ) was a Polish-born American artist , teacher , and prolific , popular author of instructional books on art . His copal products were manufactured by Permanent Pigments , Inc . ( later to become Liquitex ) of Cincinnati , Ohio . The painting medium was a yellow-brown fluid made with linseed oil , polymerized oil , resin , and solvent — an ideal glazing liquid . The concentrate was the consistency of honey , the color of hot tea , and could be mixed directly with the oil color . Effects from the use of these products ranged , as it were , from an appearance of liquefied colored glass to fused vitreous enamel , similar to the work of Flemish Primitives like Van Eyck or Memling .
“ The Art of Composition ” ( 1993 ), oil on linen , 25 x 30 ”
Sometime in my third college year I discovered “ Portrait of a Rabbi ,” attributed to Rembrandt , in the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park . The subject was a bearded man in a black satin robe and red beret with a gold chain around his neck . His countenance was dignified but sad — perhaps world-weary — and he spoke something more timeless than the transience of modern life . For me it was an epiphany , and there were two aspects to it : craft and content .
Though my school offered a master ’ s program in art , no one there — or anywhere — could teach the craft of Old Master painting . The workshopapprentice tradition had died out by the 19th century . I would have to feel my way through . So , I studied and practiced ; my paintings attained something of an Old Masters look . But by 1980 I faced a crisis . All the paintings I admired , I only knew through color reproductions . There is a world of difference between a printed picture and a real painting . I had to go to Europe to study paint surfaces and optical effects . Several observations of works I saw there stand out in my memory .
The sublime emerald green in Van Eyck ’ s “ Arnolfini ” wedding piece remains brilliant though it is nearly 600 years old ! The “ Chapeau de Paille ” by Rubens revealed how he modeled form by simply
“ Davenport Hotel Lobby Spiral Lamp ” ( 2009 ), watercolor and ink wash on paper , 8 x 11 1 / 2 ”
May | June 2023 11